British Pornography Site Visits Declines After Age Verifications, But Virtual Private Network Usage Surges, Reports Regulator
Access to pornography platforms in the United Kingdom has fallen significantly after the enforcement of mandatory age verification earlier this year, as reported by the country's communications watchdog. At the same time, the adoption of tools designed to dodge these barriers has increased.
Immediate Fall in User Numbers Following Rule Enforcement
The enforcement of age vetting on 25 July resulted in an prompt decline in visits to popular pornography sites, including the leading site in the UK. Data indicates that user traffic to this platform in August reached 9.8 million, a decline of 1.5 million from the same period in 2024.
Overall, traffic to the 10 most-visited adult services in the UK have now stabilized at a markedly decreased volume than prior to the end-of-July deadline. Subsequent analysis shows this downward trend in site visits continued beyond August.
Surge in Virtual Private Network Adoption to Bypass Checks
Reacting to the new rules, use of VPN software—which can bypass geographic blocks by routing internet traffic through another country—surged following 25 July.
Usage reached a high at more than 1.4 million in the middle of August, up from approximately 650,000 users before the verification began. However, the regulator noted that VPN usage has afterwards fallen back, with latest numbers standing at approximately 900,000. It added that the volume of regular VPN use remains “much lower” than user numbers for adult services.
Young People Taking Action to Damaging Online Content
In other findings, the regulator's report found that about 60% of young people aged 11 to 17 had acted after encountering harmful content on the internet. Steps taken included flagging the material to the site to blocking the user who shared it.
This research was carried out before new regulations came into force that require social media companies to prevent children from accessing harmful content, including material related to self-harm and adult material. The primary way teenagers encountered such content was by scrolling through a platform feed, suggesting that recommendation systems were serving inappropriate material.
Government Announce Review of Pornography Laws
Separately, the government stated it would examine the legislation relating to pornography to consider whether it is effective in the ever-developing online world.
“The examination will investigate the effectiveness of the current law in relation to criminalising, for example, damaging depictions of familial abuse and any forms of pornography which promote the abuse of children,” stated a justice minister.
Campaigners Push For Tighter Digital Regulations
Campaigners for tighter control of online pornography have called on the authorities to ban so-called “barely legal” material. This encompasses content featuring incest scenes or that appears to promote abuse by casting young-looking performers dressed as children.
Proposed changes to legislation aim to:
- Prohibit pornography where performers are impersonating children, sometimes filmed in environments like children’s bedrooms.
- Extend the offence of making an exploitative portrayal of a child to cover material where an older performer acts the part of a child.
- Apply tighter controls on familial abuse pornography, which studies indicates is often promoted by platform systems.
- Introduce additional controls on “nudification” technology, potentially making it an illegal act to possess tools designed to create private images without permission.
- Establish a new, independent oversight agency to perform spot checks on adult platforms and respond to complaints of illegal content.
The campaigners contend that these steps would ensure the safeguards that have been enforced for years in the physical world finally are extended to the online sphere.
